PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. – Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said a shooter armed with a rifle with a scope was 300 to 500 yards away from former President Donald Trump on Sunday at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
During a news conference at a public library, Bradshaw said a U.S. Secret Service agent saw the barrel of the rifle and fired at about 1:30 p.m.
“He was in an area in the shrubbery,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said about the shooter’s position.
Bradshaw said a witness told Palm Beach deputies the suspect ran out of the bushes and fled in a black Nissan sports utility vehicle. The witness took a picture of the SUV with the tag. A license plate reader detected the Nissan was in Martin County.
Before the news conference, Martin County Sheriff William D. Snyder said deputies arrested the suspect who had traveled northbound on Interstate 95. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office released a be on the lookout or BOLO alert for the vehicle. Florida Highway Patrol troopers closed I-95 northbound.
The shooting Sunday was about two months after the U.S. Secret Service killed a man who also fired a rifle during an assassination attempt against Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. The bullet grazed Trump’s ear.
Bradshaw said deputies seized the weapon, two backpacks, and a GoPro camera that the shooter left behind at the golf club’s chain-link fence in West Palm Beach.
The FBI is the lead agency in the investigation into the shooting in Palm Beach and agents asked anyone with information to visit this site to submit a tip or call 1-800-225-5324.
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Local 10 News partner WPTV contributed to this report.